I had a very good workout this afternoon. It usually doesn't seem worth the energy to go down to the gym on a weekend without other plans--but gym followed by a birthday dinner made a lot of sense. The gym was pleasantly uncrowded, as it usually is on weekend afternoons. On the streets near the gym, I passed several picket lines--the stagehands are now striking most of the Broadway theaters. (Most because some of the theaters have current contracts--the people on strike had been working without a contract since summer.)

After exercising, I read for a bit in the hotel lobby (my usual gym branch is in the Marriott hotel near Times Square), waiting for cattitude to call and say he'd gotten downtown by subway. (Had he been running earlier, he would have had time for bookstore wandering while I finished at the gym.) We rendezvous'd, and got back on the subway to Brooklyn, for a birthday dinner at Henry's End in Brooklyn Heights. We hadn't been there in a few years, after a disappointing visit or two, but I thought of them this week, looked at the web site, and thought "crab cakes!" so we went. It was excellent. Crab cakes and duck with wild mushrooms for me, chestnut and apple soup (a special) and steak au poivre for Cattitude. All very good, especially his soup. I had them wrap half of my duck, and a couple of slices of fruit bread from the bread basket, for me to bring home. And then I had a Persian lime pie (well, lime custard on a graham cracker crust, served in a small glass bowl), and he had a cheese plate. We are well-fed and happy.

Also today, I concluded that my old down parka was no longer warm enough even as a fall jacket, so I have thrown it away. Keeping it as long as I did was more sentimental than practical. (Fear not, I have a fine new parka, rated down to -25, -40 if one is exercising, which proved its value in Montreal last winter. I also have a long wool coat.)

( gym numbers )